PPAs signed for 417 MW in South Africa

South Africa’s public utility Eskom has signed power purchase agreements (PPA) for nine photovoltaic projects worth 417.1 MW, under the countrys renewable energy expansion program. Meanwhile, the government has expressed concern about the grid’s capacity to absorb additional electricity from renewable energies systems.

The preferred bidders have also signed implementation agreements and direct agreements with the Department of Energy and lenders, paving the way for the implementation of the second window of South Africa’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers Procurement Program (REIPPP).

The implementation agreement deals with the project developers’ commitment to properly fulfill the bids. Meanwhile, the direct agreement is signed between the Department of Energy, the developer and the lender to provide necessary support to the lender and the bidder, in terms of the commitments made under the PPA and the implementation agreement. No further details on the PPAs were released.

"The signing ceremony marks a transition to a new era. It brings to life the governments commitment to change the energy landscape and to help the economy grow," said Eskom Transmission Director Mongezi Ntsokolo.

"Today is an important day because it is another opportunity for successful bidders and Eskom to enter into the requisite agreements that will see the continuation of the REIPPP program," added Energy minister Dipuo Peters.

Peters asked bidders to ensure more local content and the involvement of women and the disabled in the development of their renewable projects as outlined in their bids submitted last year.

"We are starting to see progress in the establishment of local manufacturing nodes that produce some of the requisite components in the construction of solar and wind farms," she said.

The minister also said that the Department of Energy will from time to time subject the PV projects to assessment to ensure adherence to inclusion of local content and compliance with South Africa Bureau of Standards (SABS) 1286, an independent verification process which promotes the localization of production and addresses the current economic needs of South Africa.

Director General at the Department of Energy Nelly Magubane warned PV developers and other renewable energy project owners that the government will not accept any changes in their already submitted bids.

"I would like to caution all bidders that such behavior is unacceptable as it costs the Department of Energy lots of time and money in evaluating the resubmitted information to ensure it complies with bid requirements," said Magubane.

Existing grid capacity

Meawhile, the government has also expressed concern over the capacity of the existing grid to absorb the projected additional electricity from renewable energy projects. Magubane called for the "strengthening of the grid in areas with abundant solar, wind and other clean resources for electricity generation."

The nine solar photovoltaic projects are among 19 renewable energy projects approved under REIPPP second window that reached financial close last week. This phase will inject an additional 1044 MW to the national grid.

Edited by Vera von Kreutzbruck.

Share

pv magazine

The pv magazine editorial team includes specialists in equipment supply, manufacturing, policy, markets, balance of systems, and EPC.

Related

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Comment

Name *

Email *

Website

By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.

Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.

You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.

Keep up to date

pv magazine Global offers daily updates of the latest photovoltaics news. We also offer comprehensive global coverage of the most important solar markets worldwide. Select one or more editions for targeted, up to date information delivered straight to your inbox.

Email*

Select Edition(s)*

Hold Ctrl or Cmd to select multiple editions.

We send newsletters with the approximate frequency outlined for each edition above, with occasional additional notifications about events and webinars. We measure how often our emails are opened, and which links our readers click. To provide a secure and reliable service, we send our email with MailChimp, which means we store email addresses and analytical data on their servers. You can opt out of our newsletters at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in the footer of every mail. For more information please see our Data Protection Policy.

Keep up to date

We send newsletters with the approximate frequency outlined for each edition above, with occasional additional notifications about events and webinars. We measure how often our emails are opened, and which links our readers click. To provide a secure and reliable service, we send our email with MailChimp, which means we store email addresses and analytical data on their servers. You can opt out of our newsletters at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in the footer of every mail. For more information please see our Data Protection Policy.

The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this.